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Saturday, June 29, 2013

Is that how you said it as a child? I always said, "Mirror. mirror..." It wasn't until I looked it up for this layout that I realized I have been saying it wrong.

Anyway, my daughter came downstairs from playing in her room and she was all dressed up in her finest Snow White dress. She said she was hungry and asked for an apple so I gave her one. She didn't want me to slice it, which I normally do, so she must have had this all planned.

Here's the layout. The rest of the story is below.

Supplies: American Crafts Mayberry Collection

She took a bite of the apple as I was standing there and I quickly realized that my Snow White was eating an apple so I grabbed my camera real quick and snapped a few photos. I don't know if she wanted the apple to play with it or to eat it but soon enough, I was the Queen/Witch giving her the apple and she played dead until her Prince, also played by me, gave her a kiss to wake her up. We played that over and over and over and over and over again...... We had a blast!

Don't eat the apple!!!

And here's my sleeping beauty, I mean Snow White!

The house was close enough to pass for the Seven Dwarves' cottage in the woods! I just added the Home Sweet Home epoxy sticker to the top.

Okay, we had so much fun role playing together. I just love her to pieces!

Thursday, June 27, 2013

School's out, the pool is warm and it feels like 100+ degrees out every day so it must be summer! What's better on a hot summer day than strawberries? Well I'm sure we can think of many things but I'm thinking strawberry lemonade, strawberry daiquiris, strawberry shortcake and just plain ole strawberries. I recently read how to keep your strawberries fresher longer and you can too by reading HERE, but today, I have a few strawberries that will stay fresh for-evah!

How's that for a bushel of berries that will never spoil?

I pulled out the Little Yellow
Bicycle Vintage Summer collection and cut the baskets and the strawberries using
my CAMEO. The strawberries are 3D, which means adhering 6 separate cuts to make one
strawberry. The Little Yellow Bicycle team just did a product swap with Xyron and May Arts and we got lots of fantastic products from them. The Xyron 2" Cheetah worked phenomenally to adhere
the strawberries together. I threaded May Arts ribbon through the basket and made a pretty bow and
then added some burlap ribbon around the top to give it the true farm
feel.

I had an extra strawberry leftover so I made a "Sweet things make me smile"
card using Little Yellow Bicycle Clear Word Stickers.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Hi everyone! I have a quick update for you today. Thanks to everyone for hopping along with the Paperhaus Magazine blog hop . The winner of my RAK containing fabulous goodies from American Crafts, Lily Bee Design and Little Yellow Bicycle is.......

Janis

Please email me at heather AT heatherleopard.com by 6/30/13. Make sure to include your address so I can get your package out to you.

If prize is not claimed by 6/30/13, I'll host a new giveaway opportunity.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

I've been dying to make a cute banner to hang from this old window I got for $3 at a garage sale. Apparently it came from a very old house, or was it a church? Yes, it was a church that was being redone in Galveston. I just love the chipped paint, texture and look & feel of it. I see lots of fun crafts hanging from it in the future.

So that leads me to my first project to display on the window! I'm still not sure if I'll hang it in or around the house so for now, it sits against the vine covered fence just outside my front door welcoming guests that stop by.

Welcome Summer Banner

I just received a fabulous package from Little Yellow Bicycle contain their NEW Vintage Summer collection and was immediately drawn to the Decorative Edge Cardstock so when Liz asked me to create a project using decorative edges, I pulled them out, wondering what to do with them. I laid them out side by side to see which ones I liked the most and TA-DAAAAAA! A banner was born. Of course, so many other possibilities popped into my head but I kept coming back to a banner.

I cut the letters to spell "welcome" using my CAMEO. I selected a dark, less patterny (is that even a word?) pattern to help it stand out from all the other patterns I knew I'd be adding them over.

I pulled out all the deco cardstock edges and just fell in love with the mix of large and small cardstock
designs. I laid them all out again and only had to add the two large flag/pennant shaped pieces on each outer
edge (from my 6x6 pad) to complete the word "welcome".

I stacked the small cardstock decorative edges over the large ones, added strips of papers over some of the decorative cardstock, layered on banners, rosettes and flowers from the paper crafting kit and then topped them with
individual letters. I had to add a few sheets of paper behind some of the
letters to help ensure they didn't blend into the background to much. The banner above the "C" is a lovely chipboard shape that fit over the card perfectly!

We are soo ready to welcome summer, which officially begins on Friday, even though it's been a scorcher here in Cypress (Texas) for the past month)!

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

The Little Yellow Bicycle biker ganged is teaming up with Faber-Castell this week. I was super excited to get my hands on some of their goodies. I was crossing my fingers for some gelatos because I had played with someone's at a crop and enjoyed them. When I got watercolor pencils and crafter crayons I was honestly a little perplexed because the last time I played with water color pencils, well let's just say it didn't turn out very good.

It looked like bad doodling that just didn't blend very well when I attempted to paint. Luckily these were different. They were so much easier and forgiving. And the crayons were too much fun. I create these tags with the watercolor pencils and crayons.

I am sure there is soo much more that you can do with these products but my natural instinct was to do an ombre effect. I don't know what you think but for a first time playing with these projects, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I think it's less my talent and more of a testament to how crazy good these products are. And if you read my disclosure at the bottom of this page, you know that I only say what I believe.

I layered clear cuts, chipboard, bits from the paper crafting kit and white canvas from the Naturals collection that I colored on and then topped it with a cute little birdie!

I did a little multi-colored ombre for my 2nd tag and I love how it feels like a sunset. Each time I see it, I think of that and sunsets make me happy so it was only natural to add that sentiment to it, topped over some cork and clear cuts flowers.

I hope you enjoyed my little experiment and that it inspires you to step out of your comfort zone and try something new.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

After you check out this giveaway opportunity from Gossamer Blue, you'll find info on my Paperhaus giveaway and blog hop at the end!

Imagine my excitement when Kristen, the owner of Lily Bee Design mentioned she was creating EXCLUSIVE papers (and a stamp) for the Gossamer Blue kit club. I was just hoping and praying she'd send me a few spares. Little did I know though that Lori, owner of Gossamer Blue, would be inviting a few of the Lily Bee Design creative team to play with her kits this month!!! Saying I was excited is an understatement!

The June kit and add-ons can be found HERE. I worked with Lori to create an easy peasy joint challenge for a chance to win a kit for yourself!!! All you have to do is create a summer themed layout, using mainly Lily Bee products, upload it to the gallery and you'll be entered for a chance to win a June Main kit! Details are on the Lily Bee Design blog. Here's the inspiration layout I created for the challenge.

I mentioned that Kristen designed some new exclusive papers for this months kit, which I used along with goodies from her Sweet Shoppe collection. Seriously so lovely! You can see more of the exclusive papers and stamp HERE.

When I think of summertime, I think of sunshine & happiness and when I think of sunshine & happiness, I think of sun rays so...I created ray-like elements in my layering. Can you see it in the photo above?

Finally, I had to journal about how happy she was during our Mother's day picnic at the park before we ventured over to the Houston Zoo.

I hope you'll play along with the "Summertime" challenge for a chance to win a Gossamer Blue Main kit of your own.

Before you go check out the PaperHaus blog hop HERE on my blog for an easy peasy chance to win a RAK from me!

Let me know what you think in the comments below. Thanks for stopping by! Now go on and get crafty :)

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

If you're here for the Paper Haus Magazine Blog Hop and my giveaway, keep reading and see the link at the bottom of this post.

Yep, I will always be my girls' biggest fan. I mean their daddy and brother might rival me but that's A-OK with me. I snapped this selfie photo of us once she was done with her field day races, which she did soo good at, by the way! It was so much fun cheering her and her class on. The class didn't place in the top 3 but they got Best Sportsmanship! Anyway, here's the layout I created to let her know I will always be her biggest fan!

Created using American Crafts Amy Tangerine Yes, Please.

To create this layout, I machine stitched over the background paper in a random zig zag pattern and then layered papers, journaling bits, stickers, die-cuts and anything else that came into my view. LOL.

I added a little mist splatters, hand stitching around the heart and sun and then the title.

For the journaling, I just drew lines with my pen, did my journaling and then drew more black lines. To complete the journaling, I unscrewed the cap from my misting bottles and ran them over the journaling lines.

Thanks for stopping by today! Now, check out the PaperHaus Magazine blog hop in the post below for lots of inspiration and a chance to win the prize I am giving away!

Sunday, June 2, 2013

We are
celebrating the release of the Summer Issue of PaperHaus Magazine with a blog
hop! There is SO much inspiration, techniques, projects, and exclusive artist
interviews inside this edition! Click on the magazine below to view the entire summer issue. It's truly ah-mazing!!!

To ring in Summer, I want to share a page I made using the new Crate Paper "The Pier" collection included in the Gossamer Blue June kit. I will have more to tell you about designing for Gossamer Blue this coming week. In the meantime, run over there and scoop up one of these kits! It's filled with Lily Bee Design Sweet Shoppe and exclusive Lily Bee papers and stamps, Crate Paper, Basic Grey and more! I seriously feel so lucky getting to design with this kit!!!

When I saw the frames in this collection, I knew they would be perfect for all these photos I took of my daughter enjoying Kiddie Park - a park my grandparents took my mom to when she was young and took me to when I was a young child. It was such a wonderful, nostalgic experience!

I simply printed the photos to the frame sizes, adhered them to the back and then embellished around them. I added bits and pieces of embellishments under and over the top and then I chose 3 frames to stitch over and around.

I will never forget the feeling I had taking my girls to Kiddie Park. There were even moments when I felt like I was actually reliving my childhood through them!

Giveaway!

Today, I am giving away a great RAK to one random commentor who is also a follower of my blog! I have been purging my craft room and lucky for you, the purge includes all sorts of recent collections. I just don't have room for it all! All you have to do is "Join" or follow my blog and leave me a comment. I will draw the random name and post it here on my blog. Last day to enter is June 8, 2013 at midnight CT.

Our Summer Delight event is all about fun summer days filled with scrapbooking and crafting! We want to share with you what we have made! Every day on the PaperHaus Blog there will be amazing inspiration and tutorials so be sure to stop on by everyday in June!

Love My Visitors

Visitors

This is my personal blog, where I share personal life events & crafts created by me, Heather Leopard. Below is a list of manufacturers/companies (in alphabetical order) I am currently working for, either as a designer and/or in a marketing capacity: Pebbles, Inc. (designer), Elle's Studio (designer), Scrapbook Circle (teacher) plus guest designer & publishing opportunities as described on my resume page.

While I am compensated by these companies, either monetarily or in product, I always say what I truly think of their products. The views and opinions expressed here on my blog are solely my own. I will not recommend something that I don't personally use and enjoy. The projects found here on my blog, The Spotted Leopard, have been created using products I have purchased and/or products I have gotten for free. I am not required to disclose, on my blog, if the projects shown were created using products I received for free or if they were my personal purchases. If you have any questions, please contact me at heather @ heatherleopard . com

All content (designs, photos/images, creative how-tos/instructions, etc.) posted on this blog are my original creations, unless otherwise noted. The content shared on this blog is for my personal use only and may not be re-posted, blogged, distributed or sold in any form without specific permission from Heather Leopard. Please respect my work and if it inspires you or your project, please give credit where credit is due by linking back to this blog. I don't mind if you copy my work for your own personal use because it inspired you, but please don't copy my work or anyone’s work for that matter, if you intend to publish it or claim it as your own. That’s just not cool and I’m sure you wouldn’t want it to happen to you either.

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

I also participate in other affiliate programs. Product links contained in this blog include affiliate links. You don't pay any extra, but I get a small percentage of your sale.